It is the eco-friendly city runaround beloved of celebrities including Kristin Scott Thomas and Jonathan Ross, but questions about the car's safety have been raised following the death of a woman after her G-Wiz was split in two in a crash in London.

Emergency services were called to the scene after the 46-year-old's electric-powered vehicle collided with a Skoda in Hendon in north-west London on Sunday evening. She was taken to the Royal London Hospital, but was confirmed dead shortly after arrival.

The Reva G-Wiz is popular in London because it is exempt from the £8-a-day congestion charge and costs around 1p a mile to run, as it can be charged from a normal power socket. However, it does not have to conform to standard EU crash-safety rules because it is classed as a quadricycle, not a car. In May 2007, safety tests organised by the BBC's Top Gear programme suggested that G-Wiz drivers could potentially receive fatal injuries at speeds of 40mph.

Rudi Schogger, the managing director of GoinGreen, the UK retailer of G-Wiz, said he had few details of the accident but noted that it was the first of its kind involving a G-Wiz.